FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT JURY TRIAL - PAGE 4

Mitchell Baker, 36, of Vanderbilt, will face a jury trial on three felony charges and a misdemeanor charge in connection to an alleged attempt to sell stolen property. The three-day trial is scheduled to begin on Sept. 14 in 57th Circuit Court. A four-time habitual offender, Baker faces life in prison if found guilty. According to police, Baker broke into a garage in Bear Creek Township, stole a rototiller and attempted to sell it to an undercover police officer. Baker allegedly dumped his dog from his truck and fled from police before he was arrested May 8. He is charged with fleeing and eluding, larceny in a building, receiving and concealing stolen property and animal cruelty.

in Clare double murders An earlier jury trial in 55th Circuit Court in Clare County ended in a hung jury on Oct. 2, 2000 and presiding Judge Kirt N. Hansen declared a mistrial. Following the two-week-long trial, the jury became hopelessly deadlocked following two days of deliberations. The defense had argued there was no way Powell - who was residing in Gaylord at the time - could have driven to Clare in his pickup truck, committed the murders and then driven back to Gaylord before being arrested by the Otsego County Sheriff's deputies.

Court officials have scheduled the trial dates for an East Jordan man accused of providing a local attorney with a lethal dose of a painkiller last year. Ryan Matthew Fisher, 29, is scheduled to face a five-day jury trial beginning on Jan. 7 on a charge of delivery of a controlled substance causing death. The charge, which is punishable by up to life in prison, stems from the June 26, 2006, death of Petoskey-area attorney Greg Justis. On that day Justis, 55, was found unresponsive in a car parked just outside the Emmet County Building.

CRAWFORD COUNTY ? One of the two Frederic brothers has been released from Crawford County Jail. According to Crawford County Sheriff Kirk Wakefield, Guy Russell was found not guilty of intent to do great bodily harm less than murder on Wednesday during a trial that started Tuesday. Russell and his brother, Jay Kemp Russell, were arrested for the alleged assault of James K. Barron, 45, a maintenance man at Timberlee Village Trailer Park in Grayling Township on Dec. 2. Barron reportedly had helped the brothers free their truck from a snow bank on Woodlaw Road, authorities said, but when Barron refused to help the Russells a second time when they became stuck on Lewiston Grade Road, they allegedly beat him. ?

A Petoskey man, who is facing several criminal sexual conduct charges, is now scheduled for a jury trial in February of 2011. Cary Lee Field, 36, was arrested in October by the Michigan State Police Petoskey Post during a routine traffic stop in front of Walmart. While running Field's information, troopers discovered that he had a warrant out for his arrest for alleged sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl from 2008 through 2010. Initially, Field was charged with one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison; one count of child sexually abusive activity, which is a 20-year felony; one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, a 15-year felony; and a habitual second offense enhancement, which could increase his maximum penalty by half.

PETOSKEY -- A Petoskey man who appeared in Emmet County's 57th Circuit Court last year for a jury trial on criminal sexual conduct charges, which resulted in a mistrial, was back in court for a new trial and found guilty of both counts against him Tuesday. The jury found Marvin Dale VanLiew, 40, guilty of two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct against a then 7-year-old girl, court records show. The abuse, which, police say involved sexual touching, occurred on or about June 23, 2011, in Bear Creek Township, according to court records.

ATLANTA - David A. Goodwill was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in Montmorency County's 26th Circuit Court Monday afternoon. Goodwill, 25, of Lewiston, was convicted of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Jason Paul Fontenot on Sept. 29 following a four-day jury trial. Though Goodwill offered no statement at the time of sentencing, Montmorency County Prosecuting Attorney Terrie Case read a victim's impact statement from Fontenot's family.

Charlevoix?s 90th District Judge Richard May remains on the violation of public trust case despite attempts to have him removed. An opinion issued by Traverse City Judge Philip E. Rodgers Jr., on June 25, denied accused Wayne Wynkoop who filed motions to have May disqualified for apparent bias in favor of the special prosecutor on the case. ?The defendant is required to show actual bias. The defendant has failed to meet his burden,? Rodgers stated. ?Furthermore, this case is set for a jury trial.

Emmet County's 57th Circuit Court Judge Charles Johnson granted the defense's motion for mistrial in the jury trial of Marvin Dale VanLiew Tuesday. VanLiew, 40, of Petoskey, faces two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct (person under 13) for allegedly touching a then 7-year-old girl inappropriately over and under her clothing. Tuesday was the first day of three set aside for VanLiew's jury trial. Defense attorney Hillary Briolat made a motion for mistrial after the alleged victim's mother testified that VanLiew had told her he had been accused of committing similar crimes in the past, information that the jury was not meant to have at that time and that violated the rules of evidence, said Emmet County Prosecutor Jim Linderman.

CHARLEVOIX - A 14-year-old boy accused of cutting a girl's throat while she slept has decided to take his chances with a jury instead of accepting a plea agreement. Michael Meza, 14, of Traverse City had been scheduled to take advantage of a plea agreement today, Friday, in Charlevoix County Circuit Court. Under the terms of the agreement, Meza would have pleaded guilty to a charge of assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, a 10-year felony. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors would have dropped the original charges of assault with intent to murder and first degree home invasion.